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The unit of measurement is not the same. The 1906 library, an imposing Beaux Arts edifice, was paid for in gold dollars and built entirely with private money. The second library, done in the sparse International Style, was paid for in postwar dollars. The new Rem Koolhaas library is paid in current dollars, which to the older generation must seem more like pesos.

Using the inflation converter at the web page of the Minneapolis Fed and assuming that 1906 is close enough to use the 1913 figures--the earliest they have--I came up with the following costs in 2004 dollars: